Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that:

- despite years of promises and lip service, the Government has consistently failed to effectively tackle the housing crisis, leaving them scrambling to react to a situation that has now spun out of control;

- according to Eurostat, Ireland's housing crisis is currently the worst in Europe, with rent prices increasing more than any other European Union country;

- the Construction Industry Federation reports that 70,000 homes are currently held up in the planning system due to appeals to An Bord Pleanála or the courts;

- the lack of coherent Government action, along with strict planning processes and rising construction material costs, is significantly straining the affordability and delivery of new housing projects;

- the planning system in Ireland is dysfunctional, outdated, and not fit for purpose, and is now one of the biggest obstacles to house building and is a major cost driver of expensive housing;

- the Government's failure and inaction to address the overly bureaucratic planning system have rendered the entire planning system unworkable, and it is within their jurisdiction to rectify it;

- the Government bears significant responsibility for the dysfunctional planning system, which is underpinned by anti-rural regulations, including a cap on the number of one-off houses per county, as per the National Planning Framework (NPF);

- in the absence of updated regional planning guidelines, the NPF is dictating the guidelines that feed into regional strategies - which local councils must consider when setting development plans - and negatively impacting on planning permission for one-off housing;

- rural housing regulations that restrict the granting of planning permission on rural lands adjacent to national roads, even with an existing entrance, are overly zealous and exacerbating the housing crisis; and

- the Office of the Planning Regulator has been allowed by Government to take an especially aggressive and unhelpful anti-rural stance on one-off housing, consistent with the Government's objective to have a more compact and sustainable pattern of overall development, further depopulating rural communities;

notes that:

- Irish planning laws are outdated and almost impossible to navigate when it comes to obtaining planning permission for log cabins, with individuals who have invested their own money or taken out loans to build a home for themselves facing insurmountable obstacles;

- log cabins offer a range of benefits for housing, including durability, energy efficiency, and a rustic aesthetic;

- log cabins can be constructed quickly and efficiently, making them a cost-effective option for both builders and homeowners;

- to fully take advantage of the benefits offered by log cabins, planning restrictions must be eased to make log cabin construction more accessible and affordable for those interested in this type of housing;

- the last rural housing guidelines were issued in 2005 (18 years ago), and while this Government and the last Government promised to publish new guidelines we still do not have a policy in place;

- the lack of a rural housing policy document means that local authorities have no universal roadmap for rural housing policy within their operational planning remits;

- while the Government has proceeded to publish draft sustainable and compact settlement planning guidelines aimed at forcing more urban living, it has failed, despite promises, to publish a similar policy for rural communities;

- the Government is inactive in terms of rural housing policy, which has resulted in young people being forced off the land of their forebears due to unreasonable policy decisions, restrictions in granting planning permission for rural homes, and preventing farmers' sons and daughters from living on the land and in their communities of origin;

- the current planning process, from local development plans to specific project assessment, An Bord Pleanála appeals, and judicial reviews, can take up to four years for a project or applicant to be determined;

- the Government's overwhelming reliance on the private sector to deliver housing is not supported by a functioning planning system, despite the problem being consistently highlighted for well over a decade;

- An Bord Pleanála has become a dysfunctional organisation that is neither efficient nor effective, and the time has come for it to be overhauled, scrapped, or replaced; and

- An Bord Pleanála, which ultimately determines appeals and applications for strategic infrastructure and housing developments, currently has only 70 inspectors and eight board members to regulate the entire planning system here, compared to the Central Bank of Ireland, which has 1,100 staff to regulate the financial system; and

calls on the Government to:

- instruct the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to publish the long-promised new rural housing guidelines to bring clarity and certainty to rural communities, young families, and couples exploring the option of restoring old farm homesteads or building a rural one-off home;

- ensure that the new rural planning guidelines allow for planning permission to be permitted for rural housing in all rural areas for those who have a genuine housing need or connection to the local area, in order to allow young people to continue to work on the land, develop rural Ireland, and keep our townlands, towns, and villages strong and vibrant;

- relax outdated planning laws to allow sustainable log cabin units to be constructed without unnecessary planning permission requirements by amending the planning regulations that would facilitate the construction of temporary or permanent structures for residential purposes on family-owned lands in rural areas;

- extend the Help to Buy scheme to incorporate first-time buyers who wish to buy a second-hand house or apartment;

- introduce a new €20,000 grant-aid package for anyone who wishes to build a permanent one-off house on their own lands;

- amend the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund Scheme, to include properties that are vacant for more than 30 days, to boost the availability of higher quality rental accommodation;

- introduce statutory timelines of no greater than eight weeks for An Bord Pleanála to deal with all applications to dramatically reduce backlogs; and

- instruct the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to relax regulations to rural housing so that planning permission may be granted for permanent homes on rural lands adjacent to national roads.

Last week, I met a woman by the name of Mary Doorty, née Sheehan, who is originally from Bruree and who now lives in Clare. I met her in Croom hospital where she was recovering from a short illness. She grew up across the road from Éamon de Valera, who spent many a time in her parents' parlour talking with her father. She turned 96 years of age on 27 April. She said to me, "What have Fianna Fáil done to our party? What have Fianna Fáil done to rural Ireland? Have they forgotten where it first started?" I looked at the Minister's reply to our motion that he circulated to us. Again there is no proactive proposal for housing in rural areas. There are no new comments, only a rehash of what he has told us before. It is like the Government considers rural housing as a threat to the green economy. It is obvious that the Green Party is against anything rural. There is no new housing policy. How long do we have to wait? I heard the Minister on Newstalk this morning talking about An Bord Pleanála and the extra people who have been taken on. I understand that and the issues that we had. However, this is about planning for rural Ireland. Last week, young members of Macra na Feirme walked the 79 km to the Dáil from Athy to highlight the issue of planning in rural areas. We have had a 96-year-old woman, Mary Doorty, ask if the Government has forgotten rural Ireland.

The Minister spoke again this morning about the Land Development Agency, LDA. The LDA only works within 15 minutes of the cities, which wipes out over two thirds of County Limerick. The Minister visited County Limerick and saw how there is no infrastructure left only for three towns in the county where we have capacity to build houses. The Minister has forgotten about the likes of Kilbeheny, Oola, Hospital, Banogue, Askeaton, Broadford and Glin. I could keep going all day listing the places the Government has forgotten to invest in. Some of these areas have not seen investment in infrastructure for sewerage or water for up to 40 years, even though Fianna Fáil has been promising it, as have its councillors who are retiring. Currently, developers are being paid per square metre to build apartments and houses. They get €144,000 per apartment. This shows that the members of the city-based Cabinet have forgotten their roots and have forgotten about rebuilding our towns and villages in rural Ireland. We could have sustainable business and jobs. We would be able to come up with a network for transport. However, the Government is cutting us off. It has killed rural Ireland, the place from where it first started itself.

We need to be funded. We have people with families. We have people who want to build in the local areas but there is no infrastructure. The Minister said that this morning on the radio. Housing for All is not housing for all. The Government is not investing in infrastructure in the rural areas that we want to rebuild, namely, the towns and villages with 2,000 and 3,000 people in places where there is no more infrastructure. The Government has promised it. I have seen all the lists it has given to Uisce Éireann. It has promised there will be engineers in by 2026, 2029, 2030 - all these years gone out again, but Fianna Fáil has forgotten about the 40 years it has already promised. All these people would support local economies if they could build locally. We are talking about planning that is outdated for people who want to build on their own land. The Government waived planning permission fees but the planning guidelines will not allow the people in question to build there in the first place.

We are down, then, to ribbon development, and they are down to sightlines. Our planning is completely outdated. It is also completely one-sided to a city base that the Government says it wants to build. Those opposite have to remember that Ireland is an island where everyone should have equality and where people should be entitled to build on their own land and come home to their own communities, whether these are located in towns or villages. The responsibility lies with the Minister to provide the funding for infrastructure. Uisce Éireann has failed because it does not have the contractors to do the work. Give the funding to the local authorities. Use a developer-led approach and pay the developers to put in the infrastructure in rural Ireland like they are being paid to build apartments in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. The Government is not doing it in the counties. The Government should pay developers to put in infrastructure if it cannot deliver it. That will rebuild the towns and villages in Ireland. They will support the cities and the cities will support them. It will support transport and infrastructure for everyone, that we can all live and work together.

We have seen through Covid when broadband was on its knees again we were the last to get everything. We are still struggling with it. We want to build rural Ireland. We want towns and villages to be sustainable. We want people to come home and be able to live in their own areas. We talk about modular housing. There are seven different types of modular houses we can build, from log cabins to timber frame to block build to concrete build to insulating concrete formwork build. I have looked at all of them. Yes, they are workable in certain areas. The only thing we are short of to build modular houses is infrastructure. There are people who have got mortgages and who want to build houses. If they could get sites in towns or villages, they would build houses. They cannot do that because of the Government's failure to invest in infrastructure.

I ask the Minister to look at all the funding he is giving to developers in respect of city-based projects. I ask him to turn that around for developer-led, council-led or Government-led funding to go into infrastructure and let it be led by them. Do not forget from where Fianna Fáil first started out. Do not forget them. Bruree is where it started. That is a rural area. Since Fianna Fáil has come up here, it has gone completely Dublin led and city led. In Cork, there are the three Ministers and the Tánaiste. It is city led. Do not forget where it all started, and do not forget to look after the people who walk the roads and work in communities. The community spirit we have in the counties is nothing like we will ever see in the city. They all pull together and they never forgot their roots like I hope the Minister will never forget his family. Remember where your family started. Put the investment into rural Ireland in the same way it is being put into the cities. Protect our generation and those to come, and do not forget us. It looks now like the Government has forgotten us.

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